


December

by specialrhino



Category: Azumanga Daioh
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-18
Updated: 2016-12-18
Packaged: 2018-09-09 11:59:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,874
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8889970
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/specialrhino/pseuds/specialrhino





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Bard](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bard/gifts).



**Ice Cream**

"-omo. Tomo!"

Tomo tore her eyes from the TV screen with great reluctance. "What?" She'd been marathonning the new season of her favourite medical drama. Yomi had had to physically restrain her from writing threatening letters to the TV station when it had been cancelled last year.

"Here, I got you this." An ice cream cone bobbed in front of her face. Tomo grabbed it automatically, and then frowned at it. It was pale yellow. It smelled like...it couldn't be...

"It's dried squid-flavored!" Keiko sighed happily and took a lick of hers.

Tomo squinted in suspicion. It looked oddly appealing. And it was a point of pride that she'd try anything at least once....

 

**Shouldn't you know?**

"So has Yomi been feeling better?"

Tomo looked up from where she was doodling an ice cream cone on the chalkboard she was supposed to be cleaning. That squid ice cream had been a transcendent experience, okay? "What? What are you talking about?"

"She's been actin' weird lately." Osaka squinted into the distance. "Real weird."

Sakaki nodded silently.

"Like, quiet and sad and stuff." Osaka suddenly snapped back into reality and looked at Tomo. "Ah figured if anyone knew what was going on with Yomi it'd be you."

Tomo scoffed. "Of course I would know!" Yomi hadn't seemed at all different to her. She vowed to figure it out. She pointed her finger in the air. "I will get to the bottom of this!"

"Why don't you just ask her?" said Sakaki.

"That's a good idea! I'll get Chiyo to ask her!" So sneaky!

 

**That kind of thing**

"She said I wouldn't have to worry about that kind of thing until I was older," reported Chiyo dutifully.

Tomo nodded her head sagely. "Ah yes, I know what the problem is."

"Hey Yomi!" Tomo called across the classroom. Yomi's head popped up from where she'd been studying her textbook like a nerd.

"Are you out of tampons? Chiyo says you're on your period."

Yomi looked equal parts confused and scandalized, rather than the full on scandalized look Tomo would have expected. Not on her period, then.

"Is it just PMS? I can bring you squid ice cream after school."

"Squid-flavored ice cream? Firstly, ew, and secondly, I don't think that exists."

Tomo shook her head with the benevolent patience of a saint. Ah, the uninitiated. "It does. It definitely exists!"

"That sounds like cat food," Kagura said.

Osaka turned around in her chair and said, "If you carried it you'd be covered in cats. You could die!"

Chiyo looked upset. Sakaki looked thoughtful.

Tomo forgot what she was supposed to be investigating.

 

**UFO**

Tomo stuck her tongue out the corner of her mouth. This was the crucial moment. She jiggled the joystick, pushed to the right, down....and she got it! Take that, UFO! Ha! It only took an hour of online videos and $25 to beat you!

She did a victory dance to fully express her contempt and superiority, which ended with her giving the machine a stink eye. The machine, and...Yomi? She pressed her face against the plexiglass. Yes, through three panels of glass and across a courtyard, framed by the deliberately inefficient claw of the UFO machine, was the back of Yomi's head. Tomo would know that head anywhere.

Perfect! No victory is complete without someone to brag at.

"Uh," she heard behind her, from some dweeb with a quarter. "Can I use the machine now?"

"Yeah, whatever," she said, not moving. Surprisingly, Yomi wasn't alone. In fact, it looked remarkably like she was at a gokon with some people from Nyamo's class. The artifical four girls on once side of the table, four guys on the other arrangement was unmistakable.

"Aren't you going to take your prize out?" the dweeb tried again. "And leave? You've been hogging the machine for like two hours. Blah. Blah blah blah," the guy droned on, but Tomo was mostly wondering who had invited Yomi to a gokon and why she hadn't told Tomo. This required closer survellance.

Tomo just remembered to swipe her prize from the slot before leaving. It was some stuffed animal of some cartoon, whatever. She also kicked the machine on her way out for good measure.

Tomo used her super stealth skills to hide behind a tree near the courtyard tables Yomi's group had staked out. It was close enough to make out the guy that was sitting across from Yomi. He was way too ugly for her.

Yomi looked bored and fidgety. And that guy was drumming his fingers on the table, even though Yomi hated it when people did that. God, what a lame-o. Dude clearly had no observation skills.

Tomo stepped forward to give him a piece of her mind, nearly tripped on an acorn, and then caught her balance on a particularly crunchy leaf. She froze in place. Superstealth, right. Remember the plan.

Yomi made that face she did where she thought she was being sneaky supressing a yawn in the middle of class but it was totally obvious, and Tomo was smug that she got bored, too. Tomo fished her phone out of her bag by the strap of her phone charm and called Yomi, retreating into the shadow of the tree and peering out. Yomi reached into her bag, looking relieved. Ha! Yomi didn't want to be with some dumb guy. She sat staring at the screen for a second with a look Tomo had never seen on her face before. What was that?! Tomo was doing her a favor!

Whatever it was on her face gave way to a fond smile. That's right, Tomo knew she was awesome. Ha ha take that, lame-o guy: that was Yomi's Tomo face and he didn't get one! It was for no one but Tomo. The Tomo exclusive! And yet despite the face, Yomi didn't move to answer. She was biting her lips and considering the screen. Tomo clutched the trunk of her Tree of Subterfuge with her free hand and growled. But under her breath, because she was super stealthy.

Yomi answered the call on the last ring. Her voice sounded like usual, despite the face and general weirdness. "What is it, Tomo?"

Tomo straightened up. "Hey, I'm at the mall. Let's hang out!"

Yomi jumped and looked around, as if expecting Tomo to jump out from somewhere. Well, she wasn't wrong. "Oh, I'm here, too. Where should I meet you?"

They were in the North courtyard. "I'm by the South entrance."

Tomo waited for Yomi to get up, make her excuses and walk away before she picked up the acorn that nearly blew her cover (and potentially her ankle) and threw it at the dude's ear. It hit its target with satisfying accuracy. She let out a whoop of celebration and then had to run for it before he saw her, containing with great effort the cackles with struggled to fly free into the air. What a clueless dweeb.

Then she remembered that she actually had to run for it, "it" being the South entrance. Where she was supposed to already be. Eh, could just say she'd say she got bored waiting and wandered off to the sweets shop.

"Soooooooooo, what were you doing at the mall?" Tomo asked Yomi once Yomi had tracked her down. She had genuinely become distracted while solidifying her sweets shop alibi, whoops. Also, all of her pocket change was now gone.

Yomi looked up and to the left, casually admiring a nearby escalator. "I was just window shopping."

"Liar! You were at a gokon, weren't you!"

"No," Yomi laughed nervously, "what gives you that idea?"

"You just want to be someone who didn't date in high school."

"...." Yomi went casually still and nonchalant way that sent Tomo's Yomi senses tingling. She kept staring. Yomi went red. Cute. But more importantly, it was proof Tomo had won. Ha! Speaking of winning... "Hey Yomi, look at this thing I won at the UFO machine...."

 

**Was it worth it?**

After a determined campaign of wheedling from Tomo, Yomi agreed to get taiyaki from the stall outside the mall despite being on her diet.

For once, Tomo managed to contain her victory gloating: as fun as it was to eat something in front of someone who couldn't have the thing, Yomi was happiest when she ate junk food. Also, Yomi was paying for both of them. Tomo would tell her she was out of pocket money when they got to the register.

"Excuse me. Excuse me, miss?" Someone behind them in line tapped Tomo on the shoulder.

"Yes?"

The stranger, an old lady with a huge, purple sunhat, pointed. "You have a slug in your hair."

"BWAH!" Tomo said, flailing her arms in a way that was very useless but inexplicably made her feel safer. Then she grabbed Yomi, who grabbed the slug. Tomo jumped away from her. Yomi put it on the ground, and Tomo clung to her once more.

"Buh," said Tomo, by which she meant, _How was there a slug in my hair?!!_ Yomi patted her on the shoulder and hummed sympathetically. She seemed to get it.

"Were you leaning against a tree or something? Gotta stay away from trees after a storm," the strange lady said peaceably, somehow unmoved by the horror of what had just transpired. "It brings all of the creepy crawlies out."

They turned back around in the line and stood in silence for a minute.

"How long has it been in your hair?" asked Yomi. "We haven't been by any trees in the last two hours."

"I don't want to talk about it," said Tomo. She blinked up at Yomi, hopefully pathetically. "Will you buy me taiyaki?"

 

**Dibs**

"...and that's why we're doing a ballroom dance performance at the cultural fair in January." Yukari said from her pedestal of power.

The class groaned.

Well, everyone in the class other than Tomo. "Dibs! Dibs! I call Yomi as my partner."

"You can't just call dibs on someone, Tomo," Yomi said, facepalmming.

"Shouldn't the girls be paired with boys?" said Chiyo.

"You're just jealous I grabbed the best partner first," said Tomo, and stuck her tongue out.

Chiyo glared like the sore loser that she was.

"Actually," Yukari-sensei said brightly, "dibs is a great system to choose partners!"

"You just don't want to go through the work of matching people up," someone muttered.

Yukari regarded the class with dead eyes for a few moments, making it clear how much she was ignoring whoever had just spoken, and then held up her watch. "You guys have the next three minutes to find partners. No takebacks! Go!" She stepped down from the podium.

There was a beat of silence before everyone realized she was serious.

 

**Assignment**

Ballroom dancing was not as hard as it sounded - Tomo and Yomi were in rhythm (which was more than could be said for Chiyo and Osaka), and it only took 15 minutes of heckling from Tomo for Yomi to start pushing Tomo around enough to lead effectively.

Tomo liked how Yomi was taller than her, and the confident way her hands directed Tomo across the floor. Even the two simple spins they'd learned and were repeating ad nauseum were fun rather than boring when she didn't think and just let Yomi guide Tomo into whatever she wanted to do next. Yomi's hand behind her back sent a silent thrill through her like a secret.

Yomi always looked out for Tomo, but the wordless connection felt like proof that Tomo had her full attention at this moment. Tomo liked how it felt. She also wanted to go limp just because she knew Yomi would -- have to? -- catch her, but she'd already done that. Twice. In fact, Yomi might let her fall if there were a third time. And Tomo had better things to think about, like the spill of Yomi's hair brushing Tomo's arm. It was really soft and pretty. Tomo wanted to card her fingers through it.

"Tomo?"

"Hmm?"

"I'm surprised you let me lead."

"Well," said Tomo, mouth running on autopilot, "I heard following is supposed to be no work."

"Wha-"

Tomo yanked on her hair to distract her. It worked; she spent the rest of the period running from Yomi.

Her clothes smelled a little bit like Yomi for the rest of the day. She smiled to herself.

 

**Epiphany**

In the middle of math class, Tomo had a sudden realization. It was such a groundbreaking thought that she stood up in her chair. Tomo, it occured to Tomo, didn't want to grope anyone that wasn't Yomi. Was this - love?? She walked over to Sakaki's desk and put a hand on her boob. Yep, nothing.

"What are you doing, Tomo??" Chiyo yelped.

"Testing something!"

Yomi avoided her for the rest of the day. Was this the weirdness Osaka was talking about?

 

**Present**

"Here's your stupid squid ice cream," Yomi said, and handed her a carton. It was vanilla, actually, but someone had swirled what looked like pieces of diced dried squid into it. It looked completely wrong, but it smelled the same as the other stuff she'd tried. She took a spoonful as Yomi smiled at her. And immediately spit it out.

"That's disgusting!" Tomo yelled accusingly.

"It's basically what you've been raving about," Yomi yelled back. "Which doesn't exist, by the way!"

"Huh," said Tomo, glaring down at her spoon. She rounded on Chiyo, who had that distressed hamster look she got when people argued in front of her. "Chiyo! Have you seen the latest season of that medical drama with the penguin?"

"N-no, it was cancelled, remember?" Chiyo got out.

"OH NO, it was all a dream! My ice cream! The 5th season of Star Healer!"

"Where did you say you got the ice cream from?"

"My cousin from Nagoya."

"...you don't have a cousin from Nagoya," Yomi said.

"A...ghost???" said Chiyo.

"We just established it was a dream."

"Ah always fact check stuff that happens in my life," Osaka added (un)helpfully. "Just in case I'm actually still asleep. How do we know I really transferred here from Osaka, anyways? What if I never did." She trailed off and stared into space.

 

 

**'Tis the season**

There was alcohol at the Christmas party that year, because Yukari was sick and Nyamo was taking care of her. So they had the cabin all to themselves and all of Nyamo's alcohol, too.

There was mistletoe, because of course there was mistletoe (Tomo's "white Christmas" idea of chalk-inundated erasers in doorways had been shot down every year). Last year Sakaki had made Yukari-sensei kiss Chiyo's cat stuffed animal under the mistletoe.

Sakaki kissed Yomi on the cheek, pushing the glasses up on her tipsy-red face. It was a cute image, but for some reason it made Tomo's stomach lurch.

No one should be able to have Yomi on their lips other than Tomo!!

"Hey-" she made eye contact with Yomi and lunged and kissed Sakaki, making sure to suck all traces of Yomi off of their mouth. She pulled back and cackled at her ingenuity.

"Take that!" she declared with a finger point for emphasis.

Huh? Where'd Yomi go? Oh, well.

 

 

**Pictures**

Half an hour later, Yomi was still missing. Someone broke out a photo album of past parties and cultural fairs, and also a fair amount of Tomo groping Sakaki. Feelings of guilt stirred in Tomo's breast.

"Hey, Chiyo, did you see where Yomi went?" Tomo foggily had an idea that Yomi being gone was Bad.

"She went for a walk. in the forest."

That sounded like a great idea! Tomo left the cabin and crunched along the gravel of the driveway, peering out into the trees. "Yomi! Yoooooooooooomiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!" If she yelled enough, Yomi would eventually appear just to shut her up.

She found Yomi standing and looking out at the lake a five minute walk away from the cabin. The stars were the reflected on the lake, which made it look, like, romantic and stuff. The lines of Yomi's back looked more like she was angsting than marvelling at nature, though.

Tomo hugged her from behind, and, when that didn't feel demonstrative enough, nuzzled the back of her neck.

"Yoooooomiiiiiiiiiiiiii," Tomo whined.

Yomi froze in place.

"Hey, you don't think I actually like Sakaki, do you?" She ran her hands up Yomi's torso and cupped her boobs. "I don't talk about them because you're always dieting, but your boobs are way better than hers."

She bit the curve of Yomi's neck.

"T-tomo," Yomi sighed.

"Mm?" Tomo enquired, trailing biting kisses up to just behind Yomi's ear, at the spot that made her jump that one study session when Tomo had been bored and bothering her with a pencil.

And then Yomi turned around and ravished her against a tree because Tomo was a genius and understood that with the delicate art of goading, one could break Yomi's composure and make her take charge. It was pretty hot.

Success! She won! Tomo fist pumped to herself while Yomi was otherwise occupied. And if there was no one else around to see it, then oh well. She could brag about it later.


End file.
